Single purpose computerized end devices, i.e., cell phones, pagers, personal digital assistants, etc., have become commonplace. These single purpose devices have not, in the past, included any kind of application hosting facility. This was understandable given the network and processors that were available. Any intelligence had to be found in the “hosts” that they were attached to. Often, the only way the end consumer could access the “real data” was to talk to a customer service representative (CSR) who had direct access to the host where the data resides.
Also until very recently, the environments for customer care and billing applications versus the overall carrier network environment were very different. Application environments, typically, were either Unix/Open systems-based or Microsoft-based. The wireless networks used proprietary technologies. Finally, end devices and switches used proprietary operating systems, application development languages and runtime environments. Gateways had to be created to allow special purpose data (usage records, etc.) to be moved from the proprietary operating network to the more open application networks.
More Capable Devices
Four key trends are shaping the computerized billing industry: increased processing power on user devices, longer lasting batteries for user devices, standardization of the development and operating environment on the user device (standard operating systems), and finally the demand and growth of applications executing on the user device. End devices are rapidly moving from simple, proprietary, single purpose devices to full-fledged mobile application deployment platforms. The devices are also merging as personal digital assistants become wireless enabled and cell phones extend to become personal information management devices. These advancements include several dimensions: CPUs, memory, networking, graphical displays and operating systems.
Nomadic computing is a reaction to the complexity of interaction described above. In this nomadic computing model, the system adapts to the end user so that they have access to relevant information wherever they are, independent of their access mechanism. The system understands the location of the end user (both the virtual location, such as a portal, as well as their physical location), the identity of the user (his security credentials as well as his preferences), the time of his access, and the surrounding environment in which the interaction is performed (the device capabilities, the network bandwidth, etc). The system is responsible for maintaining the overall context of the interaction even as the user migrates from access point to access point.
These forces will merge to drive the next generation of the Internet which will be known as the Supranet. But satisfying user experiences will not be made strictly by wireless access; instead, integrating all end user access into a coherent whole will make compelling interactions. This integration will cross network boundaries and allow an interaction to be initiated in one medium and consumed in another. For example, driving directions requested by phone could be delivered by email. End users will access the Supranet via a variety of mechanisms: personal computers, phones, hand held devices, cameras, music players, game consoles, cars, public facilities such as kiosks.
Referring to FIG. 5, this includes a transition from a “one-to-many” model (client-server model) to a “many-to-many” model where interactions are becoming more direct between individual users. This model is termed Peer to Peer (P2P) and will trigger a swing from centralized web applications to more distributed ones exploiting resources at the edge of the network.
There are several examples of these applications: Napster, ICQ, Popular Power, Freenet, AIMster, and Groove. What all of these have in common is that they are all leveraging previously unused resources by tolerating and even working with the variable connectivity of the hundreds of millions of devices that have been connected to the edge of the Internet.
The Current Model
As technology advances, so must the billing and customer care applications which support service offerings/content access on the end-device. Customer care and billing applications (including pre-paid applications) have generally followed a network-centric or server-centric processing model. Please see, U.S. Pat. No. 6,198,915 by Russo, which issued on Mar. 6, 2001. Network-centric models process and store information centrally in the network and not in the device or access point that generates the data or events. Customer data is housed on centralized databases. Rating and billing for events involves some sort of network activity or usage. The model for rating and billing is to pull events from essentially dumb devices/networks to a central location where business logic can be applied to determine and apply tariffs. This information is then sent back across the network to users or other systems.
The timing of these calculations can vary greatly from a few minutes to once a month depending on the particular billing system. What is common is that the billing is done not where the activity takes place but centrally and not when the activity is occurring but after some interval.
Even where some processing functionality takes place on an end device, please see, U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,100 by McGregor, which issued on Nov. 19, 1996 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,198,915 by Russo, which issued on Mar. 6, 2001, such applications are marked by a server-controlled relationship and are very limited in the scope of functionality offered on the end device.